Monday, November 23, 2009

Gladly Helping to Pay His Alimony

John Cleese showing his age.

As part of my week-long birthday celebrations, I decided to see John Cleese in his Final Wave to the World (Or the Alimony Tour, Year One). I had missed out on seeing him at the Carpenter Center, but got a great seat at the Alex Theatre in a quaint, but happening area of Glendale.

Being a Monty Python fan since high school, I was extremely excited to see a member of the influential British comedy group .And I was not disappointed. At the start of the show, I was treated to an slideshow presentation breaking down how much his ex-wife earned being married to him (He owes $30 million up-front, with $1 million a year for the next five years). Mr. Cleese then regaled his life story from childhood and unusual relationships with his parents(his mother was the first to understand and appreciate his warped sense of humor) to his extreme luck at getting work (the tone-deaf comedian was actually in a musical on broadway! ...lip synching.) and meeting the members of Monty Python. For the second half, John Cleese was fascinated on the reactions to black humor from the black knight scene in "Holy Grail" to the TV series "Fawlty Towers" and "A Fish Called Wanda".

The show satisfied my hunger for interesting information into the lives of the members of Monty Python and I would gladly help Mr. Cleese pay for his alimony (in this fashion) again.

An interesting tidbit of information: "Fawlty Towers" was based on a real hotel owner named Donald Sinclair, also the name of the eccentric hotel/casino owner played by Cleese in "Rat Race".